English
prescription
Prescription comes from Latin praescriptio ‘preface’, from scrībō ‘to write’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kréybʰeti.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)kréybʰetireconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*skreiβō‘to carve’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEscrībōas scribere‘to write’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEpraescriptio‘preface’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400prescripcion
- Englishearliest quotation 1837prescription
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)kréybʰetireconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*skreiβō‘to carve’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEscrībōas scribere‘to write’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEpraescriptio‘preface’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400prescripcion
- Englishearliest quotation 1837prescription
Earliest quotation: 1837, Letitia Elizabeth Landon, Return to Courtenaye Hall: “Change is the universal prescription for a wounded spirit.…”
Formed from prescribe + -tion
Proto-Indo-European *(s)kreybʰ- ‘to scratch, to tear’
Proto-Indo-European *(s)kréybʰeti
Proto-Italic *skreiβō ‘to carve’
Latin scrībō ‘to write’
Latin praescrībere
English prescribe
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *(s)kréybʰeti
through Proto-Italic *skreiβō ‘to carve’
transcript, scripture, inscription, shriver, transcribe, ascribe, scriptural, conscription, nondescript, inscribe, conscript, descript, 28 more
through Latin scrībō ‘to write’
description, script, scribe, scribble, shrift, scrivener, 38 more
Today it means
noun A written order from an authorized medical practitioner for provision of a medicine or other treatment, such as (ophthalmology) the specific lenses needed for a pair of glasses.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *(s)kréybʰeti / prescription